Qin Official

At the fork of Yushui River, on the largest boat of the South Vietnamese people, the wings of the little rooster that had not yet hatched were captured by strong hands and its feet were tied up. No matter how hard it struggled, the knife was still a little bit He got close, was bled quickly, and was killed. Then his hair was plucked, his body was cut into pieces, and other parts were thrown into the pottery to be cooked. Only two chicken leg bones were carefully removed and cleaned...

Chicken leg bones have a similar status in Yue culture as tortoise shells, and are essential materials for divination.

The agarwood was lit, and amid the smoke, the great shaman with bright feathers on his head and dye on his face appeared. He took the leg bones respectfully offered by the Yangbu and Jiao tribe chiefs, and tied the two bones with hemp threads. Put bamboo sticks in the place where they were tied, and handed them to the two clan chiefs respectively, asking them to pray while holding on to the sticks and chanting words in their mouths.

Translated into Xia Yan, it is:

"The left bone is Nong, and Nong is me."

"The right bone is a person, and a person has something to do with it."

This is the chicken divination ceremony of the Yue people. There are many things to ask.

"Can the Buffalo Department block the Qin army in the upper reaches of Yushui River and prevent them from coming here?"

"The Wasps are still coming, will they try to plunder our empty rear?"

"Have you finished harvesting the grain at home?"

The most important thing is: "Can the sheep and dragons escape intact from this battle? How long will the Qin people stay in South Vietnam?"

There is a saying in the Central Plains: Undecided matters are divination. The same is true for the Yue people. Seeing that more and more Qin troops are gathering in Sihui, they really have no confidence in this battle.

Fight and win? The two monarchs did not dare to ask for extravagance. As early as the first war, they had a head-on collision with the Qin army. As a result, they suffered heavy casualties and had to flee into forests and islands. In the end, the Qin people retreated due to tropical diseases and lack of food. , Only then can the two teams regain their territory.

From that time on, the two tribes began to put aside their grudges and marry each other's daughters, because they knew that those Qin people would come back sooner or later!

When the rice was ripe and the war broke out again, the two tribes were fully prepared. They gathered all the young men and rode the dragon boat carved into the shape of a crocodile by the Jiao tribe to rush to the fork of Yushui River to prevent the Qin people from flowing down the river.

At the same time, the old and weak, women and children were asked to harvest the rice. When the rice was harvested, the Yue people would withdraw, take their families, and hide in the forest or island to play hide-and-seek with the Qin army again.

The plan looked good, but the leader of the Yang tribe, Baa Xu, and the leader of the Jiao tribe, Gao Long, always felt uneasy, so they came up with this divination.

After the two people said what they were praying for, the wizard began to carefully observe all the small openings on the sides of the two chicken leg bones, inserted a thin bamboo truss that was more than an inch long, and then determined the good or bad luck according to the straightness and deviation. It is said that there are eighteen variations of this method. Generally speaking, if it is straight and upright or attached to the bone, it is auspicious, and if it is curved, slanted or far away from the bone, it is unlucky.

The great witch fiddled with it for a long time, pointing at each orifice, and answered their doubts.

"The Buffalo tribe is brave and good at fighting, and they will definitely be able to stop the Qin army in Guilin."

"The Wasp Tribe has been delayed in coming, and there may have been internal strife due to the competition for the position of clan leader."

"The millet will be harvested abundantly, and the lambs at home will be able to give birth smoothly."

"The Qin people have few boats and cannot go into the water to defeat the Yue people. We can escape smoothly. When we come back a year later, the Qin people are already sick and can be killed and thrown into the river to feed the crocodiles."

All the questions were good omens, and Meexu and Gao Long felt relieved.

But this peace of mind only lasted until the early morning of the next day, when it was shattered by the huge Qin army ship that came up the river!

The four tribes of South Vietnam have a total population of more than 300,000, among which Sheep and Jiao are the most powerful. This time each dispatched more than 10,000 young and strong people. Their ships were nearly a thousand and crowded the Yushui River. The Qin army was at Huangxiguan. Less than a hundred ships were built, most of which were grain ships, so they only dared to stay in the newly built Sihui Water Village and did not dare to take the lead.

Although the Zhao Tuo tribe in Guilin had more ships, they were blocked by the Buffalo tribe in Xijiang and were unable to join here.

But Meexu and Gao Long never expected that the enemy's boat master could actually come from the sea and Kuaiji, all the way around, suddenly appear behind them, and block the three branches of Yushui!

The Qin army in the Sihui camp also came out in full force and lined up on the shore. Now, the Yue people had no way to retreat, whether in the water or on the shore!

Meexu and Gao Long didn't bother to settle accounts with the old Yue Wu who had miscalculated good or bad luck, because the Qin army's huge ship was already pressing towards them like a mountain, driven by its paddles!

At the Sihui Camp, Han Xin, who did not get a chance to fight because he was part of the baggage force, stood on the sentry tower and stared at this spectacular scene. This was the first battle involving more than 10,000 people he had witnessed. Although it looked like, The outcome is already decided.

"Everyone who knows his enemy well will fight without knowing it. He is absolutely right. The Marquis of Changnan knows himself and the enemy, so he fights..."

He looked at the Yue people surrounded by the Qin army, who panicked and broke out like a frying pan, but were blocked by the wooden walls of buildings, ships and the Qin army's crossbow shields. He smiled and said: "It's as easy as catching a turtle's ear in an urn!"

…

After the battle of Sihui, most of the Yue people were dead and wounded, and the rest were captured by the Qin army. They were tied with vines and lined up in long queues, either crammed into building boats or on foot, and walked eastward in frustration.

Along the way, they were surprised to find that they were not the only ones who were attacked. The wolf-like Qin army's boatmen used their sails and ships to attack Yue villages one after another along the Yushui coast, and captured the old, weak, women, children, and old women. One group, and another group of children, were all pushed along the road and escorted to a place: Panyu.

Panyu is the headquarters of the Yang tribe, and it is also the only city in South Vietnam. It is said that it was named after Fanshan and Yushan, but it is more likely to be the name of the Chu people for this land: outside the Kyushu, it is called the Fan Kingdom. There is no doubt that in In the eyes of the Chu people, South Vietnam was a remote Tibetan state.

"How to manage these young people and mature people is the key to Great Qin's ability to occupy this place forever."

At the top of Panyu City, Heifu, who had already arrived here, looked at the Yue people captured in a steady stream and felt that there was a long way to go.

What they are doing now is different from wiping out the Six Kingdoms. Although the Six Kingdoms are hostile to the Qin people, they all have the same origin. That war can be called "unification", but at the moment, "colonization" may be more appropriate. point.

Although attacking the Xiongnu was considered colonization, the Xiongnu fled far away, leaving their territory empty. Helan and Shuofang were mostly populated by immigrants from Guanzhong, so they are called "New Qinzhong". As for Lingnan, it is obviously impossible to massacre all the Yue people scattered all over the country, and immigrants will not be able to come over in a short while, so we have to consider how the two ethnic groups get along.

In terms of system, Heifu planned to screen the upper class of the Yue people, suppress the anti-Qin faction, support the Qin-subduing faction, and let them become "kings" enshrined by the court and govern the territory for generations. As long as they can surrender and pay some tribute, The Qin army never interfered, and was only content to control Panyu City and important transportation waterways.

But at the same time, Heifu also hopes to start "assimilation" and turn the desert into summer.

This is much more difficult than a simple military conquest. In addition to what I said to Lu Jia that day, I was considering finding a group of Confucian scholars from the Central Plains who had committed crimes for violating the "Law of Holding Books" and letting them poison... No, no, it is "educating" Vietnam. In addition to human children, you may consider starting from faith.

As far as Heif knew, the reason why the Spanish successfully colonized the entire Latin America was not only their overwhelming military power, but also their faith. When the colonial pioneers occupied the land and wiped out the Indians, the Catholic monks followed closely in the footsteps of the soldiers, and sometimes walked in front of the soldiers: "Priests walked behind the soldiers, just like the shadow of the moon accompanying people."

It's a pity that there are no priests in Da Qin, and Hei Fu doesn't intend to forcefully create a messy religion. It is a scourge. Do you dare to let it out? Can you take it back?

However, at the moment, there is a ready-made idea for reference that will not offend readers.

He left the city and asked Wu Chen, the son of his sworn brother Wu Rui, who had moles on his face, and Li Cang to lead the way to the highest point in Panyu City.

This is a large earth platform, covered with human skulls and many bronze drums. It is obviously a place for Yue people to worship. However, the centerpiece of the altar is the five-headed stone animal. Although the shape is rough, it cannot be compared with the Qin Dynasty and Greece. The pottery figurines and stone carvings are comparable to each other, but at least the horns on the head and the short tail can tell that these are five goats...

Yes, the sheep tribe that controls Panyu worships the bleating lambs. There is also a widely circulated legend.

Wu Chen knew both Xia dialect and Yue language. After asking the captured Wu Zhu, he told Heifu: It is said that hundreds of years ago, Panyu suffered a disaster. The wild animals ran away, the fruit trees died, and the South Vietnamese people were hungry. At this time, Suddenly a burst of melodious music came from the sky in the South China Sea, and five colorful auspicious clouds appeared. On them were five great witches, riding sheep of different colors with rice ears in their mouths. They came to Panyu and gave the rice ears to the Yue people. Then the great witches disappeared, and Wuyang turned into stone and stayed.

This is the reason why Yangbu worships sheep. Heifu smiled and said, if those five sheep did not turn into stone, they would probably be torn into pieces by the Yue people who were still eating hair and drinking blood at that time...

In short, the people of Yangbu believe that only after that did they plant rice, start a settled life, and spread rice farming technology throughout the south.

Regardless of whether this legend is true or not, Heifu feels that it captures one of Zhuyue's characteristics.

"All the Yues in Lingnan worship animal gods, and the Fujian people worship snakes, as we know. The four tribes in South Vietnam are sheep, crocodiles (dragons), wasps, and buffaloes. In the Hepu area where pearls are produced, there is also a fish tribe. In Ouyue, The letter frog, the Luo Yue letter bird.”

Because they believe in different Loa gods, there are many tribes fighting against each other. For example, the South Vietnamese like to eat snakes. This makes the Fujian people who worship the snake king angry. The South Vietnamese people go to Ouyue land to catch frogs and even eat them. It will trigger a war between the two!

This is also the reason why South Vietnam is hostile to the Fujian and Ou people, because they eat everything...

In view of this characteristic of the Yue people, combined with his experience of playing with snakes in Fujian and Yue, and pulling up the dragon flag and calling it a snake, Heifu came up with an idea:

"The 'dragon' that will become synonymous with China in the future, won't its characteristics be able to include all these gods who transcend humans?"

That mythical beast has horns like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, a body like a snake, a belly like a mirage, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, palms like a tiger, and ears like an ox. You call it a coincidence or not, the beard under the chin, Just like a goatee…

Well, as long as the painting is detailed enough, any totem can be added to it. The dragon is just like Chinese culture, inclusive, broad and profound!

So Heifu had an idea, maybe graft the dragon from the Central Plains to South Vietnam, and through long-term brainwashing and propaganda, make the Lingnan people believe and accept the dragon, which is superior to all tribal animal gods...

Heifu discussed this idea with Li Cang and Wu Chen in front of the Wuyang Stone Statue. Li Cang applauded, but Wu Chen asked a silly question.

"Your Majesty, Luo Yue believes in birds, but dragons don't have wings or feathers, and Ou Yue believes in frogs. Dragons seem to have nothing to do with frogs..."

"Why can dragons fly?"

Heifu asked back: "Because the dragon has the ability to fly like a bird. As for why it has no wings, maybe it is a pair of invisible wings that mortals cannot see."

Wu Chen thought about it, and it seemed to make sense.

"As for the frog..."

Heifu fell into deep thought, then laughed and said: "Li Cang, Wu Chen, have you two heard the dragon's cry?"

Not to mention hearing it, they had never seen it before. The two young men shook their heads repeatedly.

"I have heard a saying that thunder is the roar of a dragon."

Heifu pointed to the sky and started talking nonsense, not afraid that God would not listen and would blast him to death with a thunderbolt. Li Cang and Wu Chen looked up and found that the sky above Panyu was cloudless.

"I also heard from Mei Rong that people in Xi'ou believe that frogs are the messengers of the King of Thunder, because every time there is thunder, the frogs in the fields are extremely happy."

Heifu felt that this problem had been solved, and he said happily:

"In that case, how about saying that the dragon sounds like a frog?"

…

In Heifu's vision, from now on, the dragons in Lingnan will croak with every opening of their mouths. Although this idea is brilliant, it is only a prototype after all. It needs to be carefully planned and then implemented slowly. Before that, Heifu must first reward the soldiers for their first battle in Lingnan to stimulate the morale of the army.

At the beginning of December, Gong Ao, An Pu, Qu Ji and others came to Panyu City, which was reoccupied by the Qin army, and handed the war record to Heifu.

In the book, each military officer who has made meritorious service has two lines. The first line is the name and position, and the second line is the number of beheadings and the title that should be awarded as proposed by the military judge.

"Sit down. The list you handed me is long and wide. It will take me half an hour to read."

Heifu has a habit. Whenever he discusses merits after a war, he will go through the resume of each person who has made outstanding contributions. He firmly believes that strong generals will be sent out among the soldiers, and actual combat is to screen out talented people. The best way is that he cannot rely on these old members forever. There must be an endless stream of new people, which is benign.

The old subordinates knew Heifu's habits, so they sat down separately and did not dare to disturb him. Quji endured it and swallowed the recommendation that came to his lips.

Heifu continued to sweep all the way down. Occasionally he would ask questions when he saw people with outstanding performance. Generally speaking, he respected the military judge's recommendation of promotion according to the law, but there were only a few cases where there were gains and losses.

The army is huge, involving everyone from captains to centenarians. As we near the end, a familiar name suddenly catches sight of Heifu!

The row on the left is the battle record: "While escorting grain, we were attacked by Yue people. We abandoned our boats and landed on the beach to fight. We lost fifty people and beheaded two hundred people. If we make a profit, we should be promoted to a noble rank of two ranks. I will not change it."

And his name is...

Looking back and reading the line on the right again, Heifu's thick eyebrows raised:

"Under the command of Xiao He, the commander of the grain management department, and the hundred commander of the transport camp, Han Xin?"